Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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1. To ask the Minister for Defence if he will revise the 21 year rule to enable members of the Defence Forces who are willing and able to continue in service to do so; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43462/14]

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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In this question, which is of great importance to serving members of the Defence Forces, I seek to identify what action the Minister is in a position to take at this point with regard to the 21 year contract for serving members of the Defence Forces. It is tabled in the context of clarification provided to the House by the Minister's predecessor prior to his rather hasty departure from the Department in which he indicated that a special sub-committee to investigate the 21 year rule had been established as part of the conciliation process.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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As I have previously outlined in the House, a claim from the Permanent Defence Force Other Ranks Representative Association, PDFORRA, in respect of this matter is being dealt with under the conciliation and arbitration scheme for members of the Permanent Defence Force. As discussions under the scheme are confidential to the parties involved, it would not be appropriate for me to comment in detail at this time, other than to emphasise that in dealing with this issue the manpower and operational needs of the Defence Forces must be the primary consideration.

As military life places unique physical and psychological demands on individuals, it is necessary that members of the Defence Forces be physically and mentally prepared to meet the challenges of all military operations and undertake their duties on deployment overseas . It is vital that the age and health profile of personnel be such as to ensure that operational capability and effectiveness are not compromised. As such, to maintain the age profile of the Permanent Defence Force to carry out the operational tasks required by government, it is necessary to have a constant input of new recruits into the Permanent Defence Force. The maximum age for personnel who have enlisted in the Permanent Defence Force post-1 January 1994 provides the mechanism through which a satisfactory age profile can be achieved.

I understand the concerns this issue raises for the personnel due to be discharged in terms of their personal circumstances and the impact on their families. I assure the Deputy that in examining this issue all pertinent facts have been considered. However, while significant progress was made in discussions between PDFORRA and civil and military management, it was not possible to reach full agreement. As a result, the issue is being referred to third party adjudication for a ruling. It is expected that the adjudication hearing will take place in the next few weeks following the exchange of submissions between the parties.

In the meantime, work is continuing on measures to support those exiting the Permanent Defence Force. A number of military courses are already accredited with various third level institutions and a comprehensive training course to aid transition to civilian life for the personnel in question is being piloted.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for his response. We must first consider the profile of those who are being discharged under the 21 year rule. They are largely young men and women aged in their late 30s and early 40s who are carrying heavy mortgages and have considerable family responsibilities arising from the overall costs of day-to-day life. These individuals are to be discharged into an economy in which full employment remains some way off. The Minister has invested considerable time, political capital and energy in trying to address the crisis in the beef sector, which is appropriate. I put it to him, however, that this issue is at least as important to the Defence Forces as is the critical circumstances in the beef sector are to farmers. For this reason, I ask him to invest the same level of effort and political capital and energy in efforts to resolve this matter.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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It is important to make a distinction between policy decisions and a process that was agreed and is under way in the Defence Forces to try to bring this issue to a conclusion by finding an acceptable and reasonable compromise.

That is what we have been trying to do through arbitration and we have now moved to a third-party process. Instead of making a political decision on the basis of lobbying or in an effort to be popular, we are seeking a solution that is in the best interests of the Defence Forces and the people who serve within it by ensuring they are of an age and health profile to do the very difficult work they need to do. We have had many examples of the demands of that work, particularly overseas, in recent months. The primary concern here must be to ensure we have the right age profile in the Defence Forces so that people are prepared for and able to cope with the tough life of a soldier.

It is important, of course, to look after people who have been in the Defence Forces and take into account their personal circumstances. It is also important that we provide an avenue into the forces for new recruits. We must have a constant feed of fresh blood in the form of young and fit men and women. In order to facilitate that, we have to take people out of the system.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I ask the Minister and Members to be mindful of the clock when making their contributions.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate what the Minister is saying and we are not at odds on this issue. My point is that people should be able to continue to serve where they are capable of doing so, have the necessary level of mental and physical fitness and in the context of the huge investment the Defence Forces have made in their training. Changes have already been made in that commandants can now serve until they are 58 years of age and lieutenants until age 54. Members of the Garda Síochána and prison officers, who have fairly onerous responsibilities, can now serve until the age of 60. When one does a comparison between the exit age this 21-year rule imposes on Defence Forces personnel, one sees it is very much out of kilter with that which applies to the permanent defence forces in other countries. We should by all means use the mechanisms to which the Minister referred to address this issue but, ultimately, he has a critical role to play in resolving it.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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It is important to bear in mind the historical context here. The individuals concerned started off on a five-year contract and a great deal of flexibility has been shown in accommodating and extending their careers within the Defence Forces. I expect that some flexibility will also be shown in this instance. I want to see an arbitration process and an independent third party adjudicating to make decisions which take everything into account rather than the pure political considerations. I accept that some of the families concerned are facing very real difficulties. However, my primary responsibility is to ensuring the overall coherence and effectiveness of the Defence Forces in terms of policy around age and health profiles and the fitness of personnel, individually and collectively, for the difficult work they must do. Of course, if some of the individuals concerned have a skillset which adds to that and should be accommodated through flexibilities, then I expect the third-party arbitrator will point to that. We must await the outcome of that process rather than making a political decision.